UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | June 17 to June 23, 2024

🚨 The Indian Express UPSC Essentials brings to you the June edition of its monthly magazine. Click Here to read. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com🚨

Reports

Anti-smog gun sprays water as haze envelops in Noida. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

— State of Global Air Report (SoGA)

• The report, released by the Health Effects Institute (HEI), an independent U.S.-based nonprofit research organization, found air pollution accounted for 8.1 million deaths globally in 2021.
• China and India account for 55 percent of the global burden at 2.3 and 2.1 million deaths respectively.
• Produced for the first time in partnership with UNICEF, the report finds that children under five years old are especially vulnerable, with health effects including premature birth, low birth weight, asthma and lung diseases.
• In 2021, exposure to air pollution was linked to more than 700,000 deaths of children under five years old, making it the second-leading risk factor for death globally for this age group, after malnutrition.
• India reported the highest number of pollution-linked deaths in children under the age of five in 2021 with at least 169,400 deaths attributed to air pollution.

— Global Gender Gap Index 2024

• The Global Gender Gap Index is released annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF). 
• It benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. The index lies between 0 and 1, with 1 denoting complete parity.
• The index shows that while no country has achieved full gender parity, 97% of the economies included in this edition have closed more than 60% of their gap, compared to 85% in 2006.
• Iceland (93.5%) is again ranked 1st and has been leading the index for a decade and a half. Finland is ranked second and Norway is ranked third.
• India ranks 129 out of the 146 countries. This puts India at the 18th position from the bottom. In 2023, India stood at 127 rank out of the 146 countries.

India’s performance across the components of the Global Gender Gap Index
Components	Score (0-1)	Rank
Economic Participation and Opportunity	0.398	142
Educational Attainment	0.964	112
Health and survival	0.951	142
Political Empowerment	0.251	65

(Source: World Economic Forum)

(These data are for your understanding and can be used in your Mains answer writing to make your point.)

Polity

Lok Sabha MP Bhartruhari Mahtab appointed as pro-tem Speaker.

— Pro-tem Speaker

• BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab has been appointed as the pro-tem Speaker. ‘Pro-tem’ essentially means ‘for the time being’ or ‘temporarily’.
• The Constitution does not mention the post. The official ‘Handbook on the Working of Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs’ mentions the ‘Appointment and Swearing in of Speaker pro tem’.

— National Forensic Infrastructure Enhancement Scheme (NFIES)

• The Union Cabinet has approved the NFIES with a financial outlay of Rs 2,254.43 crore during the period from 2024-25 to 2028-29.
• It is a Central Sector Scheme that will be provisioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs from its own budget.
• There are three components under the scheme: Establishment of  Campuses of the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) in the country, establishment of Central Forensic Science Laboratories in the country, and enhancement of existing infrastructure of the Delhi Campus of the NFSU.

— Post Office Act, 2023

• The Post Office Act came into force on June 18. It has repealed the  125-year-old Indian Post Office Act of 1898.
• The act contains provisions that allow the Centre to intercept, open, or detain any item, and deliver it to customs authorities.

 

Environment

The proliferation of the Indian house crow (Corvus splendens) has severely impacted local ecosystems and communities in East African countries, including Kenya. (Express Archive)

— Crows

• After decades of trying to control its population of crows, the Kenyan government plans to poison 1 million house crows by December 31.
• The scientific name of the Indian House crow: Corvus splendens.
• IUCN Red list status: Least Concerned
• Diet: Omnivorous
• The house crow is a slender bird with a long neck and a relatively large bill. The head-body length is 40cm and it weighs approximately 245 to 370 grams.

— Summer Solstice

• The longest day of the year, for anyone living north of the Equator, is June 21.
• The day is referred to as the summer solstice, and it occurs when the Sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, or more specifically right over 23.5 degrees north latitude.
• The maximum amount of sunlight received by the Northern Hemisphere during this time is usually on June 20, 21, or 22.
• In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere receives most sunlight on December 21, 22, or 23 when the Northern Hemisphere has its longest nights — or the winter solstice.

 

Science and Technology

Family members of the victims of a hooch tragedy at a government hospital, in Kallakurichi. (PTI)

— Hooch

• At least 53 people have died, and around 140 others have been hospitalised after consuming hooch, or spurious liquor, in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi
• Hooch is a commonly used term for poor-quality alcohol, derived from Hoochinoo, a native Alaskan tribe that was known to produce very strong liquor.
• Hooch is produced using distillation of a fermented mixture, generally of locally available yeast, and sugar or fruit (often fruit waste).
• There is an inherent risk associated with the crude methods of hooch production. The fermented mixture which is distilled contains more than just consumable alcohol (ethanol). It also contains methanol, an industrial alcohol that is highly toxic for human beings.
• Methanol has a boiling point of 64.7 °C, lower than that of ethanol 78.37 °C.

— Chillies

• Food safety authorities in Denmark have recalled three types of South Korean spicy instant noodles over possible risks of “acute poisoning.” According to the authorities, the the capsaicin content [in the noodles] is so high that it can pose a health hazard, especially to children.
• Capsaicin (CAP) is a naturally occurring bioactive phytochemical abundant in red and chili peppers that is responsible for its hot pungent taste.
• It is native to southern North America and northern South America.
• A high-dose CAP may inhibit gastric acid production, damage the gastrointestinal mucosa by inducing gastric inflammation, and cause structural changes of the intestinal barrier.

— Mifepristone

• The US Supreme Court on June 13 rejected a petition by anti-abortion groups seeking to undo the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of a commonly available abortion pill, called mifepristone.
• Mifepristone is part of the two-drug regimen used for medical abortion. A patient first takes mifepristone to induce an abortion and then misoprostol to empty the uterus.

— Claude 3.5 Sonnet

• Anthropic has launched its latest AI model called Claude 3.5 Sonnet — the company’s first release in the upcoming Claude 3.5 AI model series.
• It is a large language model (LLM), and is part of the family of LLMs which is being developed by Anthropic

 

International

The Marriage Equality bill had the support of all of Thailand’s major parties and was more than a decade in the making. (Photo: REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/File Photo)

— Thailand recognises same-sex

• The Thai Senate, the upper house of Thailand’s National Assembly, passed the Marriage Equality Bill on June 18, 2024.
• This puts Thailand on the verge of becoming the first country in Southeast Asia, and third in Asia after Nepal and Taiwan, to legalise same-sex marriage.

— Maritime Rescue Coordination Center 

• India and Sri Lanka had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the Indian public sector Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) for setting up a state-of-the-art Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) in Colombo. It has been formally commissioned now.
• It is built with a USD 6 million grant from India. It includes a center at Navy Headquarters in Colombo, a sub-center in Hambantota, and unmanned installations at Galle, Arugambay, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Kallarawa, Point Pedro and Mollikulam.

— Swiss Peace Summit

• Switzerland organised a Summit on Peace in Ukraine at the Bürgenstock (Canton of Nidwalden) on 15 and 16 June, 2024.
• Some 100 delegations attended the summit, including 57 heads of state and government from all regions of the world.
• India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico and UAE were among countries participating at the summit on peace for Ukraine but did not sign a final communique.
• Russia was not invited to the summit and China decided not to attend the summit.

— Group of Seven (G7)

• Italy hosted the 50th G7 Summit in Apulia from June 13 to 15, 2024.
• The G7 is an informal grouping of leading industrialised nations, which include the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada.
•  India was invited as an Outreach Country.
• The next G7 Leaders’ Summit will be hosted in Kananaskis, Alberta province of Canada in 2025.

— Resolve Tibet Act

• The United States Congress on June 12 passed the Promoting a Resolution to Tibet-China Dispute Act, better known as the Resolve Tibet Act.
• The Resolve Tibet Act authorises the use of funds to counter Chinese disinformation about Tibet “including disinformation about the history of Tibet, the Tibetan people, and Tibetan institutions, including that of the Dalai Lama.

 

Diseases in News

— Sensorineural deafness

• Popular singer Alka Yagnik has revealed that she has a condition called sensorineural deafness.
• Sensorineural deafness is a type of hearing loss that happens because of damage to the inner ear, the place of origin of the nerve that runs from the ear to the brain, called the auditory nerve.
• It can be triggered by meningitis, mumps and measles. Other causes could be injury of the ear or head or exposure to really loud noises or sound over a prolonged period of time.

 

Important Day

— International Yoga Day

• June 21 is celebrated as the International Yoga Day. This year it was the tenth annual celebration.
• A theme for this day is announced every year — this year’s theme is “Yoga for Self and Society”. Last year, the theme was “Yoga for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — One Earth One Family”
• The first Yoga Day celebrations held in 2015 at Raj Path in New Delhi. Modi, along with other dignitaries, created two Guinness World Records — for being the world’s largest yoga session (35,985 people), and for having the largest number of participating nationalities (84).

Places in News

What likely began as a small vihara (Buddhist monastery) before the Common Era, became a mahavihara (‘great’ monastery) by 5th century CE. (Wikimedia Commons)

— Nalanda University

• The campus of Nalanda University was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19th June 2024. It is located in Rajgir roughly 100 km from Patna, Bihar.
• 17 countries other than India — Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam — have helped set up of the university. Ambassadors of these countries attended the inauguration ceremony.
• The ruins of ancient Nalanda University in Bihar was declared as the World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2016.
• Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (also known as Hsuan Tsang or Mokshadeva), who travelled across India from 629–645 CE have spent roughly five years in Nalanda, where he studied under the mahavihara’s grand abbot, Silabhadra.
• It is believed that Emperor Kumaragupta (Shakraditya) of the Gupta Dynasty founded the Nalanda University.

Sports

Olympic and world champ Neeraj Chopra secures his win in Turku with a throw at 85.97. (Photo credits: X/@WorldAthletics)

— Paavo Nurmi Games 2024

• Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw competition with a throw of 85.97m at the Paavo Nurmi Games 2024 athletics meet in Turku, Finland.
• Finland’s Toni Keränen won the silver medal with a personal best of 84.19m throw while his compatriot Oliver Helander took the bronze with 83.96m.

 

Terms in News

— Angel tax: It is an income tax at the rate of 30.6 percent that is levied when an unlisted company issues shares to an investor at a price higher than its fair market value.

— Chenab Bridge: It is the world’s highest single-arch railway bridge running between Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir

— Juneteenth: It is observed on June 19 every year to commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States.

— Blood Money: In Islamic law, there is a principle of divya, or ‘blood money.’ In this, victims of crimes have a say in how criminals are to be punished. In the case of murder, this principle applies to the families of victims. Victim’s family may choose to  “forgive” the murderer in exchange for monetary compensation.

— KAVACH: It is a set of electronic devices and Radio Frequency Identification devices installed in locomotives, in the signalling system as well the tracks, that talk to each other using ultra-high radio frequencies to control the brakes of trains and also alert drivers, all based on the logic programmed into them.

 

Test Your Knowledge

A. Consider the following statements:

1. The boiling point of ethanol is 64.7 ° C which is lower than that of methanol 78.37 °C.

2. The consumption of Methanol can cause impaired vision, high toxicity and metabolic acidosis.

Which of the following statements are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor

 

B. Resolve Tibet Act has been passed by which of the following countries?

(a) China

(b) USA

(c) India

(d) European Union

 

C. Consider the following statements:

1. Hsuan Tsang visited Nalanda in the 7th century CE and studied under the mahavihara’s grand abbot, Silabhadra.

2. Huili, the biographer of Yijing, mentioned the contributions of Shakraditya and his successors in the development of Nalanda University.

3. Chinese pilgrim Yijing visited the Nalanda University just before it was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khalji.

How many of the above statements are correct?

(a) Only one

(b) Only two

(c) All three

(d) None

 

D. Consider the following statements:

1. The IUCN status of Corvus splendens is Least Concerned.

2. Corvus splendens are protected under Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act.

3. In their native range, they are under severe pressure by the Indian koel, specialised in parasitising their nests.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2, and 3

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